ROME, ITALY. Medical researchers at the Catholic University in Rome report that patients with congestive heart failure (idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy or IDCM) have vastly elevated concentrations of mercury and antimony in their heart tissue. They compared trace element concentrations in biopsy samples from the left ventricle among patients with IDCM and patients with valvular disorders or no heart disease at all. The IDCM patients had mercury concentrations 22,000 times higher than in the controls. Antimony concentrations were 12,000 times higher and silver, gold, chromium and arsenic levels were also highly elevated. Holter monitoring revealed frequent ectopic (premature) beats in all the IDCM patients and ventricular tachycardias in six of the 13 patients. None of the patients had had occupational exposure to the trace elements. Researchers at the University of Calgary point out that dental amalgams would be the most likely source of the mercury.
Frustaci, Andrea, et al. Marked elevation of myocardial trace elements in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy compared with secondary cardiac dysfunction. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol. 33, May 1999, pp. 1578-83 [32 references]
Lorscheider, Fritz and Vimy, Murray. Mercury and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol. 35, March 1, 2000, p. 819 (letter to the editor)